


Native New Yorker

by datlantica



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: (but it's underwhelming), (just a mention of kreese dying because i hate that guy), (they do eventually kiss i promise), M/M, Minor Character Death, daniel has a roommate but i didnt bother naming them bc I'm lazy, daniel spaces out a lot, i dont think i have a set plot im just writing whatever pops into my head, johnny is a film major because why not!, no beta! just me messing around, ok i said plot jumps all over the place but ill be honest, plot jumps all over the place i am so sorry, so do with that what you will, so i am once again very sorry, they're both super OOC but this was more of a non dialogue experiment
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:46:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27914749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/datlantica/pseuds/datlantica
Summary: Why Johnny? Of all the people on the earth, why him?...Well, okay. He did have a thing for blondes, he remembered that fact well. So maybe it wasn't too wild of an idea. But it was still weird, he thought.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso & Johnny Lawrence, Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i decided I can't spend too much longer dwelling on this, so im forcing myself to upload it LOL
> 
> i also couldn't decide what to put as a summary so i put a random part of the fic there; i think that's legal here
> 
> (almost entirely Daniel's POV im pretty sure)

**December 7th, 1996. New York, New York.**

It's snowing. 

Not a lot, just enough to pepper the ground, to give the whole city a white hue. A small, dark haired boy (man? he wasn't sure) and his roommate made their way into a little store. It sold everything from books, to clothes, to kitchen gadgets, and novelty items. 

_"ENTIRE STORE CLOSING,"_ big signs all read. Bold, black text on a neon yellow background. It was a nice contrast to the grey outside. To the cold. 

Besides, the place had good heating, and the pair were _freezing_ out there. It was merely a temporary stop on the way home from the park, which is where they _were_ before it started snowing. 

The brown haired boy read the signs out under his breath. _Store closing. Store closing. Store—_

It wasn't that cold. 

_"Daniel!"_

He snapped out of it. He didn't even realize he had zoned out like that. "Yeah?" He drawled, soon searching for his roommate a few aisles over in a rather empty manner. He didn't want to find them, the walk over in the snow was a lot. 

His roommate talked a lot, they were pretty overwhelming at times. 

"I'm in kitchenware, God! I can't leave you alone for even a minute, can I?" They joked. 

Even though Daniel was originally from kinda-but-not-really-around the same area, they became a lot very fast. He was glad he was able to have his own room, just to be able to get away from them from time to time. You could easily tell they were born and raised in the city, their accent was super heavy and their mannerisms screamed 'NYC native.' 

Daniel felt almost at home with them. 

_Almost._

There was always a sort of longing to return to California after graduation. He had been living in New York for a handful of years now, and it was fine. 

He had no real reason to go back to California, all of his family lived on the east coast, including his mom, who got a job offer in Jersey not too many years after they both moved out to California. 

Daniel ignored his roommates remarks, instead deciding to just smile at them and head off to browse the store on his own. They knew the way home and had the key to get into the apartment, anyway. 

It's not like they were too far from home, either.

He spent more than a few minutes picking through the store. He managed to find a few small trinkets he'd have to show his mom when he had the chance. 

Daniel had a tendency to get lost in thought these days, likely the result of a lot of messed up stuff from high school he didn't have the time, patience, or money to sort out. 

So it'd had to wait, for now. 

For now, he stopped dead in his tracks. His previous thoughts disappeared. 

His eyes got caught on some blonde hair above the shelves near rows of used books on the back wall of the store. He got a good look of the man's side profile and knew who it was immediately. 

"John? Johnny Lawrence?" He beamed. He was an aisle over. He thought about jumping clean over the aisle divider, but that'd be too much. Too eager. 

It wasn't that tall of a shelf. He could've done it. 

The blonde turned all the way around after hearing his name and, sure enough, there Johnny was, looking completely dumfounded by who he was seeing. 

Daniel finally joined the man in the same aisle. 

"LaRusso?!" 

And he was grinning. Daniel had never seen a smile that big directed at him before that wasn't from his own mother. 

He isn't sure why he was smiling so wide after what they did to each other at the tournament years ago. 

God, had it really been _years?_

Looking at the man before him and how little he had aged, he could've sworn it was yesterday. But it wasn't, and all of a sudden Daniel felt old. 

He was slowly nearing 30, for God's sake. And that scared him. He always lost track of time. Birthdays came and went, years ticked by one by one. Nothing was really the same after '89. 

That year was so, _so_ rough. 

And even though in reality he had barely aged, he didn't think it of himself. In Daniel's mind he was still in his early 20's, living the dream and feeling great. 

It wasn't great. At all. Too many responsibilities.

He felt Lawrence staring at him, studying his features with one brow quirked up curiously, probably searching for any sign of wear-and-tear. But there were none. 

There was, however, a limp in Daniel's walk from where Lawrence elbowed his already injured knee. If Daniel wasn't such a self-proclaimed humble guy, he'd really rub in the fact he's still facing the consequences of Johnny's actions about 12 years after the fact. 

And he'd be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying the attention he was getting from Lawrence's eyes. 

"God, look at you! You still look great!" Daniel gawked, instead of gloating like he originally planned on doing. He talked with his hands, waving them up at Johnny's face to bring attention to it. 

And Johnny chuckled. 

"You're not too bad yourself, LaRusso!" He shoved the brunette's shoulder before he pulled him into an awkward, sloppy embrace, mostly one-sided because Daniel was pretty shocked by the gesture at first. 

He managed to get a few gentle pats of the back in before the blonde broke free, though, and they were left face to face again. 

Staring. 

And all of a sudden, Daniel really wanted to kiss him. 

Woah, _hey. Shake that thought out, man. No good._

He barely reunited with the man he hated in highschool, and he's already thinking about these grand romantic gestures? 

Even though he had been with plenty of guys in-between then and now, so it wasn't a big deal anyway, but; 

Why Johnny? Of all the people on the earth, why him? 

...Well, okay. He _did_ have a thing for blondes, he remembered that fact well. So maybe it wasn't _too_ wild of an idea. But it was still weird, he thought.

"LaRusso, you feeling alright?" Johnny asked. 

Daniel blinked and decided to just nod his head in response. 

"Yeah, yeah! I'm fine. But forget about me, how've you been, man?" 

"I've been okay. Busy with managing work and school." Johnny was much more mellow now, he spoke softer and kinder. It was a nice change. 

"Oh, yeah? You're in college?" Daniel was genuinely surprised. 

Johnny nodded and smiled. 

"That's great to hear, wow! What's your major?" 

"Film, actually." Johnny looked a little embarrassed saying that out loud.

"I didn't peg you as a huge movie guy, that's really interesting!" Daniel crossed his arms. He wasn't sure why he did that, it just felt right at the time.

He _also_ wasn't sure why he was so enthusiastic about talking to his old high-school rival. Maybe it was nostalgia. Maybe it was something else. 

"Oh, by the way, what brings you all the way to New York?" He added. 

"Just visiting. I figured it would be good for my field of study." Johnny adjusted his stance, he looked more relaxed now. He looked less scared that Daniel, who hadn't grown at all in at least a decade, would beat him up again. 

Daniel was still really small, which amused him when thinking about how intimidated the blonde looked when he first ran up to him. 

"Well, there's plenty of stuff to visit in the city. I could show you around sometime, if you're up for it." Daniel offered.

Johnny opened his mouth to speak again, but immediately tensed back up when someone came running over. His jaw slammed shut. 

"There you are, Daniel! I thought I'd lost ya!" Daniel's friend. No, roommate. That's what they were, roommates. 

"Yeah, sorry." Daniel shifted his attention to land square between the two on either side of him. "Oh, uh, this is Johnny Lawrence!" 

"The one you kicked in that tournament all those years ago?" 

"Yeah!" _All those years ago._ He slapped on a fake smile, missing the very brief time he had alone with Johnny. 

"And Johnny, this is my roommate." The aforementioned roommate held their hand out to shake Johnny's, looking at him in awe, like he was some huge celebrity caught doing something everyone does. "What was it like to get kicked?" They quizzed. "Do you agree it was illegal?" 

Johnny answered their questions, something in his eyes screaming 'get me outta here.' 

_Jesus Christ,_ Daniel thought. 

It seemed like time slowed down drastically in the time between his roommate asking their first question and their last. 

But finally, his attention was caught. However, he didn't look up, he just listened. 

"We should really be heading back, Dans! I heard the snows gonna be gettin' a _lot_ heavier come nightfall!" 

Daniel kept nodding, like it was the only thing he knew how to do. In fact, he hadn't even really stopped nodding since his roommate came over and interrupted them. 

_Wait, Dans?_

His eyes came off the floor. He first looked at his roommate in confusion, then at the blonde. His expression softened. 

"Hey, actually LaRusso, before you go, lemme give you my phone number, and you can call me whenever so we can catch up, alright?" Johnny ripped a piece of paper out of one of the many random books near him and scribbled down a number. 

"I might even take you up on that offer to show me around the place."

He gave the paper to Daniel, who took it from him and stared at it intently. 

_Why did he do that?_

But before he was able to even think about the answer, his roommate was dragging him to the checkout stand and eventually out of the store entirely. 

They slowly trekked back home, where it was nice, don't get him wrong, but something was missing. Daniel felt like he left a piece of himself back in that store.

********

That night Daniel tossed and turned, and when he actually managed to fall asleep, he dreamt about the tournament, and how good Johnny looked. Even when he was sobbing while handing Daniel his trophy, leftover blood smeared across his cheek and upper lip from where he had been hit. 

He swore he saw a halo behind and around the man's head, giving him a backlit face that was all too pleasing to look at.

_"You're alright, LaRusso."_ Those words echoed in his head, over and over. For years, he never stopped hearing them. When he looked at his trophy the words got louder, like he was actually back there, reliving the moment.

Seeing Johnny getting choked out in the parking lot after the tournament really messed with his head, he wished he had helped in some way, even if he held a major grudge against the kid at the time.

Nobody deserves that treatment.

He'd sometimes get nightmares about watching him die. Thankfully, this was not one of those nights.

But he still woke up and felt like a train had hit him. 

And he silently hoped Johnny heard him thank him after taking the trophy from his hands— God, he really hoped he did. Even if he wasn't able to help him in the parking lot, he hoped that one small gesture reached Johnny.


	2. Back Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> blabba blabba (i cannot think of a summary but basically. daniel has issues with staying grounded)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is shorter than i thought it was but oh well !
> 
> Set in very late 1996/maybe really early (like, january) '97

Daniel LaRusso was no stranger to dating men.

He wasn't afraid of any of it, not even the potential to be outed and have his life ruined by biphobic jerks who can't mind their own business.

...Okay, that part was actually _really_ scary. But, aside from that, he didn't have any fears about his sexuality. He knew himself well, and wasn't planning on hiding any of himself in the future when things were (hopefully) better.

What he _was_ afraid of, however, was Johnny Lawrence.

He somehow got it in his head that was going to ask Johnny out on a date, sooner or later. The next time he saw him. His chance to get it all over with, to see if these new feelings are anything more than a puppy crush. 

Surely it was just a puppy crush, right? 

Surely the years he spent thinking about the kid after the tournament didn't mean anything. All those nightmares about the night of the All Valley, all the times he got drunk and cried over Johnny and how things ended with him. (Not that he'd ever admit that he drunkenly cried because of him.) None of it meant anything at all, and he was going to prove it somehow.

The next chance he got, he'd tell himself. He knew deep down he was only lying to himself to avoid having to think too hard about any of it.

But he never got that chance. Johnny was only visiting New York for a month, and by the time Daniel gathered enough courage to actually pick up the phone to ask him out, Johnny was gone. 

Back to California, he said. 

Luckily, he didn't have that much confidence when Johnny answered, because any he _did_ have was immediately killed as soon as he heard that.

Confidence was overrated anyway.

The two had been talking over the phone every day for a couple weeks prior to Johnny leaving. Catching up, but never meeting. Johnny was always busy sight-seeing, or a relative happened to be visiting the city at the time.

Or:

"I'm busy right now, LaRusso, I'm seeing a play;" 

"I'm ice skating at the Rockefeller;" 

"I'm taking every subway train I can afford and seeing where it takes me;"

"I'm just really, _really_ tired today."

All excuses, Daniel might've thought in passing. They sounded enough like legitimate reasons to not be able to meet up though, so he never said anything.

He just kept hoping next time Johnny would be free to hang out.

But then he was gone. He hopped on a plane to Cali without even looking back. 

And it hurt. A lot. Actually, it hurt much more than Daniel was expecting it to hurt. He's pretty sure he cried just a little that night when he was showering.

(But again, he'd never say that out loud to anyone.)

Daniel made Johnny wait a few days before calling again. He wasn't sure if it actually had the effect he had hoped it would've. He was hoping it would drive Johnny to call him instead, but there was radio silence.

So Daniel dialed the phone one last time. Just one more time, he told himself. Just to check in and see how he's doing. And even though he knew Johnny was probably at work right now, he still wanted to try.

(He had been given a general idea of the other man's schedule, and weekdays were typically when the restaurant Johnny worked in was the busiest.)

The conversation went something along the lines of: 

"Hey, I really wish I could be there, but you _know_ I'm working minimum wage, LaRusso. I really can't afford a plane ticket right now, man. I just bought a new camera with what little savings I had, my old one got all busted up somehow." 

Johnny wasn't afraid to ramble on on the phone, and Daniel let him. He knew he had a stressful life and needed to air his frustration somehow. Daniel always listened, but he'd internally cringe when Johnny would call him a _"good friend for letting him yell in his ear."_

Friends. _Is that what they were?_

"I'll fly you out." Daniel said. "I'll get the money somehow, John, and I can— I can show you around the rest of the city." He sounded so desperate, didn't he? 

He was. 

"One month is barely enough time to see the whole place." He thought saying that would make it all sound less insane. He doubted Johnny hadn't seen everything important in New York by now anyway, but he held onto the sliver that said he hasn't.

"Listen, Daniel, I can't. I know you can't, either. I'm sorry, alright? But I gotta go, my boss has been nagging me for the past— _Ow, alright, jeez! Lemme finish up this call!_ I'm sorry, I'll call you when I get off work later." 

And then he hung up. 

He never did call back, either. 

Daniel kept waiting for that call back, but it never came. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into almost 2 years.

After a while, (3 months, to be exact,) he kinda started hoping Johnny had up and died or something just so he'd never have to deal with him again.

**December, 2018.**

So Daniel gave up. For more than 20 more years, Daniel gave up on Johnny. He got marrried to Amanda, opened a car dealership, had kids, the whole shebang. 

And he was happy. Like, really happy. He hadn't even really thought about Johnny since early '97. His nightmares about Johnny and the All Valley slowly became more and more rare. 

Until the man appeared back in his life, in his dealership, with a totaled car. Looking utterly amazing despite being who knows how old, and even though he smelled like beer Daniel didn't care at all. It was just nice to see the man again.

And then his life fell apart at the seams, thread by thread. 

It all went by so fast. His life always did when the moments mattered the most. 

When his kids were born he checked out of his body for weeks at a time over a several year period. Trying to process everything took a lot out of him, especially having to juggle the stress of opening a car dealership, and then managing that dealership when Anthony came along a few years later. 

He could never seem to stay grounded long enough these days. 

Not since Miyagi died. 

That was a really rough day, too. 

Daniel hasn't cried that hard since then, either. 

But that was all said and done, he couldn't do much now except visit his grave every once in a while to make sure the plants around the headstone never got too tall to read the name and engravings. 

He always absentmindedly asked for advice, hoping something inside him would spark and he'd magically see Miyagi again, and that he would tell him what to do, and be wise, and then all would be well and happy and his life would be fixed. 

That never did happen, though. 

So he'd get in his car and drive the road alongside the beach, waiting for the sun to set so he could go home and have dinner with his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one more chapter and then i can get this thing out of my notes app
> 
> (fyi im basing daniels experiences with zoning out/leaving his body on my Own experiences so. yeah!)

**Author's Note:**

> <3
> 
> (more soon to come, i need to do a lot of formatting and re-writing)


End file.
